...(don't) ride this way...

In a city increasingly calling itself "Transit City", it's funny that the TTC seems determined to find inefficient and unpopular methods of raising the revenue it needs to maintain services. It relies time and again on fare increases to support programming: the TTC announced a new fare increase today (it's third in the same number of years) that will put the cost of a monthly Metropass at $109.00, and the bulk price of a ticket/token at $2.25. I hear a lot about TTC successes, how it is the most productive North American transit system, how it has the highest farebox recovery rate (over 80% of its programming is paid for by fare revenue), and how it is the least subsidized transit system in the country. These all sound great but mostly what it means is we pay more for our transit, and don't always get a whole heck of a lot back. Delays, overcrowded trains, dirty dirty dirty stations...

If we really are going to be a Transit City, I'd like to see revenue solutions that don't disadvantage those of us who use the system most. I'm a student, and commute into Toronto everyday for school or work. I don't like driving, and certainly want to avoid it as much as possible. For the most part, it's more convenient for me to take the TTC everyday and despite the occasional delays, it usually works out quite well. However, a $9.25 increase on my monthly pass is not insignificant, and is probably going to deter me from continuing to buy a Metropass.

We should be taking advantage of creative revenue solutions that really promote public transit as a way of life and not simply an alternative means of transportation. If we're committed to "clean air" policies, as the ads in the subway tell me daily, we need to do more to show it: increase motor fuel taxes and direct that money to the TTC; charge access fees to offices and shopping centres on and around TTC stations; make new residential developments pay a one-time fee to the TTC to offset maintenance costs over the coming years resulting from an increased ridership from their building (San Francisco's transit system has used this method since 2002, charging new developments on transit areas $5.00 per gross square foot and has raised over $100 million in revenue through this program). Most importantly, stop antagonizing those of use who use the system regularly and are already stretched for cash by making us pay more to use the service; driving away (no pun intended) your regular ridership is hardly a good economic strategy.

The second-largest Canadian transit system is in Montreal. They also charge $2.75 for a single cash far, but the discounts for increased use are much steeper than in Toronto. The weekly pass is $19.00, and the monthly pass an unbelievable $65 ($35 for students). There is no university Metropass in Toronto, although high school students can get a monthly pass for $83. I repeat, NO university student discount from the TTC! I have a close friend who is very smart and very dedicated and studies at York University. She works nearly full time while in school to pay for school, and occasionally doesn't make it to class because she can't scrounge up subway fare. She can't buy a Metropass because a one-time first-of-the-month payment of a hundred bucks is more than she can manage. Transit in Toronto really needs to step up to the plate, this is just too much.